It is standard procedure for baseball players to "warm-up" prior to batting by taking practice swings with the bat. It has been found that if the weight of the bat is increased during these practice swings, the unweighted bat may be swung with greater ease while batting. In the past, the bat weight has been increased by swinging to or more bats or by swinging a specially made bat permanently weighted with lead, made specifically and solely for this purpose. These practices have proven only partially satisfactory since the swinging of several bats is awkward and cumbersome and the use of a specially made bat constitutes a sizeable expenditure for an item which serves a very limited purpose.
In recent years, the use of several bats or a single weighted bat for practice swings has been largely replaced by use of a weight which is detachably engaged with the barrel of the bat by various means during the practice swings and then discarded prior to batting. One such device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,521,883, granted July 28, 1970. The weight disclosed in that patent comprises a solid inner ring preferably made of steel or cast iron and covered by an outer ring made of rubber. While such devices have proven successful from the standpoint of weighting the bat, they are relatively expensive and there is a danger that the weight may fly off the bat during the practice swings, with resultant injury to those in the area. Additionally, in view of the solid structure of these devices, each unit is of a predetermined weight, and not adaptable for use by players of all ages and strengths.
It is an object of this invention to provide a weighting device for attachment to baseball bats which is of doughnut shape, and includes flexible wall means providing a hollow chamber which may be filled or partially filled with a liquid or granular weighting material until the desired weight is reached.
Another object is to provide a device of the character described which is of economic construction and may be detachably engaged with bats of all sizes, the device being provided with means for permitting the hollow chamber to be rapidly filled with the weighting material for use and to be quickly emptied for collapsing, to facilitate storage and transportation.
A further object is to provide a device of the character described wherein the walls thereof are constructed of a flexible material in order to permit the device to be readily engaged with the barrel of the baseball bat, and frictionally held thereby, without danger of flying off when the bat is swung, and wherein the device is shock absorbent in order to minimize injury to anyone accidentally struck thereby.
A still further object is to provide a device of the character described having means for controlling the flexing of that portion of the device engaged with the baseball bat, in order to preclude accidental disengagement thereof from the bat when the bat is swung.